6-Year-Old Labeled ‘Sexual Harasser’ After Kissing Crush

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(CNN) -- Hunter Yelton is an energetic first-grader who has a passion for science and P.E., but it's his love of a classmate that now has him labeled as a "sexual harasser."

Hunter's mother, Jennifer Saunders, told HLN affiliate KRDO the Canon City, Colorado, 6-year-old has a crush on a girl in his class. Hunter told KRDO he kissed the student on the hand during reading group. That landed him a two-day suspension from school and an entry of sexual harassment in his school file.

Robin Gooldy, the superintendent of Canon City Schools, told HLN Tuesday that students aren't labeled sexual harassers after the first innocent grade-school kiss, but if unwelcome contact or touching continues, it will be noted in the student's file.

Hunter and his mom admit this isn't the first time Hunter has kissed his classmate. He's been suspended before for kissing the same student on the cheek, but Saunders insists the two are "boyfriend and girlfriend" and that the attention isn't unwelcome. Saunders is outraged that her son has been labeled a "sexual harasser," a label that will stay in his file as long as he is in the Canon City school district.

"How can you do this? How can you say this about my child? Remove sexual harassment, remove it from his record. I'm going to stand up and fight for him because that's not the case, that's not what happened at all," Saunders told KRDO.

But Gooldy said there are two sides to every story. "Our main interest in this is having the behavior stop because the story is not just about the student that was disciplined, it is also about the student receiving the unwanted advances. We have to think about both students in the situation."

Gooldy told HLN that Hunter's record won't follow him to other school districts, and the discipline will stop as soon as the kissing does.

59 comments

Rebecca

Then I hope the students who bulky at that school get arrested. I would rather my child do something nice than mean. Are the teachers qho hug and kiss our children going to be punushed too ?! That school shouldn’t complain about students behavior when their school administration behavior is iffensive to me. I hope his mom never stands down.

Bill

where is the evidence that these “advances” were unwanted, people really need to get a grip these days these kids are in first grade….when i was in first grade we played kiss tag with the girls…..are you trying to make the poor kid think that there is something wrong with him for kissing a girl he likes. True if it was unwanted it was wrong and the boys parents fault but if she is not telling him no or to stop then I think they really need to get over it, the world is so crazy now adays

enevola

First of all Mom, they are SIX YEARS OLD! They are NOT Boyfriend and Girlfriend. Quit sexualizing your son and encouraging this action. He needs to be told, NO, you are NOT allowed to Kiss this girl, or touch her in any way. You can be friends, but Kissing is not appropriate at this age.
It is not cute, and there are repercussions.

marie

what about the girl and her parents? where is the OTHER SIDE of the story?? how do THEY feel about the situation? no, he shouldn’t be kissing in school, and that needs taught, but if its an innocent thing that both families are ok with, I’d take the label off and just discipline.

why are we punishing people for showing love. how many movies show us this same scene. I can’t remember which one it was but the little curly blond hair kids that stood straight up with a funny face when pecked on the cheek. these people who putting a punishment on a kid because he showed love needs to never work with people again, this deserves no punishment. these are kids and have more love to share then any other people in this world. we should be able to walk up to random people hug them and give a kiss on the cheek

And we wonder why our world is so hate filled……. If we encouraged some love and compassion maybe our world would not be the way it is. Many children show affection through hugs and kisses in kindergarten and first grade. IT IS a parents responsibility to TEACH boundaries but AT THIS AGE THERE IS NO SUCH THING OR UNDERSTANDING OF BOUNDARIES. This is outrageous. Just because you have a first kiss ON THE CHEEK does not mean you will be pregnant at an early age. It does not insinuate that a girl will be a whore or the boy will sleep around. It is a harmless school crush. People need to teach children to love each other, if not, god help the future of mankind.